Simplicity is Good
by Lord Mendasuit
Summary: Harry has a complicated life. Which is why he looks for simple ways to make it easier. Because being intelligent is not about being a knowledge sponge. First year in the Simplicity series.
1. Getting Past Transfiguration

Harry Potter rubbed his chin as he stared at the matchstick in front of him. He recalled what he saw McGonagall do, which wasn't very informative. She hadn't told them what exactly they were doing, just to will the matchstick to turn into a needle. She hadn't used a particular incantation or anything.

What she'd said sounded like vaguely Latin-inspired nonsense.

Maybe it was as simple as that. Who knew how Magic worked? Certainly not Harry. For all he knew, the silly wand waving and incantations were wholly unnecessary dramatics. Actually, considering how much of a flair for the dramatic wizards in general seemed to have from what little he'd seen of them…

With a random waving of his wand, Harry willed the matchstick to become a needle. And it did.

"Huh," said Harry, raising an eyebrow.

"Excellent, Mr. Potter! On your first attempt, even! I have never seen such prowess since Professor Dumbledore himself! That will be ten points to Gryffindor!" said McGonagall, sounding far too cheerful for the strict and stern image she'd presented earlier.


	2. Getting Past Potions

"Mr. Potter, our new… celebrity…" Severus Snape, the Potions Professor spat the word like it was tar.

Then he asked several questions Harry did not know the answers to. After taking away points from Harry, he wrote instructions on the blackboard and began watching the classroom like a hawk, hovering around both Harry himself and a rather pudgy boy who seemed disconcerted by the bat like man's presence.

Harry rubbed his chin.

Could potion making truly be as simple as Severus Snape made it out to be?

Follow a recipe and you're golden?

That's not too different from cooking. And that, Harry was certain he could do easily.

To simple problems, simple solutions, he thought.


	3. Getting Past Flight

Harry pondered how to get Malfoy to give him the Remembrall without making a big fuzz of the situation, involving a professor or otherwise making it last any longer than it needed to. Malfoy was challenging Harry to 'come and get it', as it were, but Harry was reluctant to bite the obvious bait.

Then he remembered that Malfoy had been boasting about having broom training and thus about how he was totally gonna be seeker and all those things about a sport Harry hadn't the foggiest idea about.

"How about a race, then?" asked Harry, tilting his eyebrow. "If I win, you give me the Remembrall. If you win… Well I'm sure you can think of something."

"If I win, you'll admit I was right and purebloods are superior to mudbloods," sneered Draco.

"Okay. Around that tree and back, then?" Harry asked, pointing at the tree Malfoy had been intending to leave Neville's Remembrall at.

It wasn't a contest. Malfoy was left in the dust easily. He gave Harry the Remembrall and fumed quietly until the end of the flying class.


	4. Getting Past The Duel

A pissed off Draco Malfoy, angry from being humiliated and defeated in public, challenged Harry to a Wizard's Duel, choosing a time well beyond curfew and the trophy room as a location. Ron Weasley foolishly and rashly accepted in Harry's stead.

Deciding that this called for extreme measures, Harry approached Dumbledore in his office later, explaining his problem.

Dumbledore nodded along and accompanied Harry to the meeting point later that night, intent on officiating the duel, only to realize Draco Malfoy had not shown up. "I guess that means you won by default, Mr. Potter," explained Dumbledore.

Then Filch burst through the trophy room's door and yelled "A-HA! Ah got ye-!", though he immediately cut himself off when he saw Dumbledore accompanying the boy he had come to bust at the behest of Draco Malfoy, who'd tipped him off.

"Oh dear, it seems Mr. Malfoy was intending to get you in trouble, Mr. Potter. I do believe that the clever mind that allowed you to get out of this trap unscathed deserves a reward, as does the valor necessary to protect your honor, even with the circumstances being what they are. That will be twenty points to Gryffindor, Mister Potter. I hope to see more of this rather exemplary behavior from you," said a happy Dumbledore, as he escorted Harry to the common room, where he was received by Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, one of which was worried about the result of the duel and the other the possible loss of points to Gryffindor House Harry could cause.

Dumbledore smirked at the sight.

"Ah, it seems you have good friends, if they were willing to risk detention just to see if you were alright. I do believe such bravery in the house of lions should not be punished, but there are times in which bravery could be foolishness and recklessness. Remember this, it shall do you well," Dumbledore said, winking at Hermione and Ron, then retreating and disappearing amidst the shadows of the gloomy, poorly lit castle.

"Well, that went better than I expected it to," Hermione admitted.

Harry shrugged. Everything had gone according to plan.


	5. Getting Past Charms

Flitwick explained how to do Wingardium Leviosa. But he did not explain how it worked. It was most likely because the tiny professor could not explain Wingardium Leviosa, as it defied explanation. Magic, Harry, had learned and accepted, simply worked and you had to accept it did.

Repeating his efforts in transfiguration, he did a few wand movements vaguely similar to what Flitwick had explained and repeated the chant verbatim, if only so he could give the spell a name. The feather lifted easily, as he had fully expected it to.

"Marvelous, Mr. Potter! Your success is truly an example for the rest of the class, enough to earn you ten points, I think," the rather cheerful looking man said, nodding at Harry. "Perhaps you can help me help your peers?" he asked.

"I guess I can try," said Harry, shrugging.

Ron Weasley, Harry's first friend, was having problems with lifting his feather. Harry noticed the mangled incantation, as Ron was accentuating the 'Wingardium' part wrong. He didn't think this had much weight. Ron was getting frustrated, however, and even the tiny results he'd gotten at first now seemed to be beyond him.

Thinking to himself, Harry rubbed his chin. "You know, I can tell you my secret," Harry said, in a conspirational tone, catching Ron's attention immediately. "It's all in the pronunciation. You just have to make the 'gar' nice and slow."

Harry knew that what he had just told Ron was absolute bullshit. But while Ron seemed to lack the belief in himself that would've allowed him to, much like Harry, bypass the pesky 'do it to perfection' part, he did believe in what Harry told him. And as he believed it would work, it did.

"That is excellent, Mr. Weasley! I believe that you are the third to get this right! You and Miss Granger have both earned your house five points apiece!" said the tiny professor, continuing to walk around the class, trying to help the students as he could.

Harry used the same simple method to help some other students, and Flitwick gave him another ten points after the end of the class for being such a helpful little boy.


	6. Getting Past Fluffy

There had been a troll in the dungeons, but it was stunned and removed by the professors shortly after the DADA teacher, an useless man by the name of Quirinus Quivering Quirrell, the middle name probably not the real one, announced its presence.

Dumbledore had called for everyone to calm and for the prefects to count the students to make sure everyone was present for the Halloween feast.

Harry later expressed his doubts to Dumbledore about the man. After all, wasn't he the expert on how to defend the students? Shouldn't he have been able to defeat a troll on his lonesome, if the professors had subdued it with ridiculous ease?

Dumbledore admitted to sharing similar concerns with regards to Quirrell's ability to teach.

Sometime later, Hagrid accidentally revealed to Harry and Ron that he owned a Cerberus and it was in the school, over tea and rock pies. How Hagrid could bite through actual rock, they didn't know, nor cared to know.

Harry later went to Dumbledore with this information. Dumbledore revealed that the Cerberus was the reason why the Third Corridor had been forbidden. At this point, it was obvious the dog was guarding something.

"It's probably guarding what Hagrid took off the vault we visited at Gringotts, right?" asked Harry, tilting his head.

"Yes," Dumbledore admitted, "it's a very important artifact of a good friend of mine. The break in proved that we were wise in removing it from Gringotts. You should not concern yourself over this, for it is well guarded."

Harry nodded and heeded Dumbledore's words, deciding that there really was no need to concern himself with such a thing.


	7. Getting Past Norbert

"Isn't that illegal?" asked Harry, poking the baby dragon with his wand, as Hagrid petted the fire-snorting critter.

"Very," Ron confirmed. "I should know. My brother Charlie works in a preserve," he explained, looking at Harry.

The boy who lived was pensive for a second. "Well, can you get in contact with him?"

"You have an owl, right? Then I can," Ron confirmed, "and given how rare healthy dragon hatchlings are, I bet he'll have no problem coming to take this one," said Ron, reaching out to pet the dragon, stopping when it looked at his hand as if it were food.

Hagrid looked ready to protest. And he did. "I can't give up Norbert, he's just a baby!" he exclaimed.

"I imagine you'll still be able to visit him, Hagrid, and they'll know how to take care of him," Harry said, soothingly, knowing that Hagrid didn't know he was talking out of his ass, "but the thing is… Norbert will probably eat more than you can afford, and he'll start breathing fire and your cottage is made of wood. Do I need to continue?"

Hagrid was forced to concede in the face of cold logic.

Hedwig delivered a letter to Charlie, who apparated to the border of Hogwarts' premises. Hagrid tearfully delivered Norbert and Charlie took him to Romania, to the dragon preserve he worked in.


	8. Getting Past The Philosopher's Stone

Professor Quirrell spent the remaining week of his life staring at the reflection of his desires until he died of dehydration. His body was recovered three weeks after he was reported missing, when Nicholas Flamel went to pick up the Philosopher's Stone.

Slytherin won the House Cup. Just barely.


End file.
